Until recently I'd have felt the need for a stiff drink before confessing here to a passion that wine lovers generally abhor. A secret vice, indulged in only when thousands of miles away from home, or when the urge might strike, the occasional Sunday evening, in the safe confines of the kitchen. Martinis - there, I've said it: very large, very dry Martinis, endowed, beyond a shadow of doubt, with magic powers. Now, suddenly, it's safe to come out and let wine slide temporarily into second place.
Decanter (which calls itself the Best Wine Magazine in the World) has run a major article this summer on New York's cocktail revival, under the swoony heading "Heaven in a Glass". The World Encyclopaedia Of Cocktails by cocktail mover and, obviously, shaker, Paul Martin has just been published, offering 2,500 head-spinning recipes. More to the point, Dublin is picking up on the new craze for pretty drinks that have more kick in them than Renaldo. At the opening of Ron Wood's exhibition in July, the famous and the fashionable discovered just how rollingly stoned it was possible to become sipping Sea Breezes (vodka, cranberry juice and grapefruit juice) and the specially invented Absolut Ron Wood (vodka with orange juice and passion fruit liqueur).
"The demand for cocktails is definitely increasing," says James Ryan, head barman at the Clarence. Since the hotel reopened, the Martinis and Margaritas conjured up in the hotel's Octagon Bar have gone down a treat, not only with the creative types who make up a large part of the Clarence clientele but with refugees from other hotels and an increasing number of Temple Bar residents who come specially for the cocktails. This summer the Cosmopolitan (vodka, Cointreau, cranberry juice and lime) is floating up the list of favourites, here as in New York. It looks divine, watermelon-pink in a triangular glass, and tastes surprisingly refreshing with the sharp cranberry and lime flavours more than cancelling out the sweetness of the Cointreau.
"If I were going out for an evening, a Cosmopolitan is what I'd probably choose," James Ryan reflects. "It's a marvellous drink - it really hits the palate. Or I might have Long Island Iced Tea, which is absolutely beautiful" (gin, vodka, Bacardi, Cointreau, Coke and tequila - wow!). And away he goes on a bartender's tour of popular exotica, like the Irish version of a Black Russian (Guinness and Coke go in the with standard vodka and Tia Maria).
The most popular element in the current cocktail renaissance is undoubtedly vodka - especially Absolut, the rave of New York, with more hip cachet than all the other labels put together. "Vodka Martinis, made either with plain vodka or with Absolut Citron, are probably the top-selling cocktails in Dublin at the moment," says Dara McDonnell, an enthusiast who hopes soon to introduce a cocktail list to Eden in Temple Bar, where he is wine steward. "But gin is reviving. Mention brands like Bombay Sapphire or Tanqueray and people's ears prick up. Gin Slings and Gin Fizzes are on the way back."
His overview of our new dalliance with the sometimes mind-numbing mixtures born of Prohibition comes from his last job, in Odessa in Dame Court. "I set up a cocktail list and customers were so enthusiastic that before long we were selling 200 cocktails a night. It gave me a feel for the Irish palate - tastes here are different from other countries where I've worked. Irish people like their drinks shaken vigorously, so that the vodka is in suspension in an almost frozen mixture. The cold masks the strong alcohol taste."
If you're experimenting at home, Keep Your Cool should be the motto, for amid all the variations of ingredients and method, cold is the one crucial point upon which barmen and books agree. Glasses should always be well chilled, either in the freezer or with crushed ice. As for the old shaken-or-stirred debate, the rule cited by purists is that while fruit-flavoured cocktails should be shaken over ice, clear ones like Martinis should be stirred to preserve their clarity.
Cocktails are terrific fun to make, with scope for creativity both in the mix and in the presentation of a drink that should turn he ads even before a drop is drunk. "Looks as well as taste sell a cocktail," says Harry McQuaid, senior bartender in the Shelbourne - another important source, where Margaritas are stealing up on the best-selling Gin Martinis. "There have been times when we've made somebody an Out of the Blue (blue curacao, gin, Cointreau and tequila with a strawberry on top) and it looks so fantastic that customers all over the bar start asking for one."
With Paul Martin's World Encyclopaedia Of Cocktails to hand, you can practise your decorative arts not just on vaguely familiar things such as Bellinis and Strawberry Daquiris, but on some louche-sounding concoctions such as Paint Thinner, Panty Burner and Jelly Fish (Bailey's, grenadine and Kahlua). The only downside to this colourful enterprise is that, apart from a handful of wine-based mixed drinks, cocktails and wine don't get along well together. In fact, combined in any quantity, they don't just fight but conduct a pitched battle in the skull. Two large, lovely cocktails and it's best to banish all thoughts of wine with dinner. Worth trying occasionally, just for a change - and aren't extreme measures needed to kick some life into what's left of summer?
The Classic Clarence Martini
Good tastes, good taste. . . the Clarence Hotel is becoming as famous for its Martinis as for its impeccable low-key aesthetics. The house style is ultra dry with an olive rather than a twist, but customer preferences are willingly entertained. . .
Double measure Cork Dry Gin
1 tsp Martini Extra Dry vermouth
1 stuffed green olive
Chill glass in freezer or with crushed ice. Pour gin and vermouth into shaker over ice, stir and strain into generously proportioned cocktail glass. Add green olive on cocktail stick.
The Cosmopolitan
The drink that fashionable Manhattan has been lapping up - and now it's catching on in Dublin. Here is the Absolut version, served at the Ron Wood exhibition opening last month.
1 measure Absolut Citron 1 measure Cointreau
1 measure cranberry juice
squeeze of fresh lime juice
Shake over ice, strain into a martini glass and garnish with lime peel.
Sea Breeze
A long drink that's high up the vodka top 10; this recipe comes from Classic Cocktails (see below).
5 cl/1 3/4oz vodka 10 cc/3 1/2oz cranberry juice
5 cc/1 3/4oz fresh grapefruit juice.
Pour the ingredients into a highball glass two-thirds full of ice. Stir. Garnish with a wedge of lime and serve with a stirrer.
For wine-only drinkers
1 White Wine Spritzer - a great summery solution when you find yourself in a bar and can't think of anything you feel like drinking. Three-quarters white wine (a fruity New World style works best), one quarter soda water or sparkling mineral water.
2 Bellini - invented by Giuseppi Cipriani, the bartender at Harry's Bar in Venice, to celebrate a 1943 exhibition of the work of Bellini; drunk with vigour by Ernest Hemingway and Noel Coward. Quarter fill a champagne flute with peach puree, top up with champagne or an inexpensive dry sparkling wine (like Spanish Cava).
3 Kir - named after a long-serving mayor of Dijon in Burgundy, where the correct ingredients come from . . . and a long-running favourite, despite frequent attempts to murder it with rubbishy or unsuitably fruity white wine. The original is made with typically sharp Bourgogne Aligote tempered with quite a liberal dash of blackcurrant liqueur, creme de cassis. The sophisticated, well-travelled version uses less cassis and a bone-dry, Chardonnay-based white Burgundy. Hard to beat.
4 Buck's Fizz - still a greatway to start the day, but only if it's made the proper way. One third freshly squeezed orange juice, two-thirds champagne or dry sparkling white wine, served in a champagne flute. Packet orange isn't half as good, and pre-mixed Buck's Fizz is an abomination. . .